Drainboard for clothes wringers



Feb. 22, 1944. N. L. ETTEN 2,342,258

DRAIN BOARD FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS I Filed July 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet lFeb. 22, 1944.

N. L. ETTEN 2,342,258 DRAIN BOARD FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS Filed July 4,1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0%20'29/2 2 07? 2850/26 J. Z /Z/4 Patented Feb.22, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,342,258 I DRAINBOAR-D FOR CLOTHESWRINGERS Nicholas L. Etten, Waterloo, Iowa Application July 4,1939,Serial No. 282,824

6 Claims. c1. 68-264) This invention relates to clothes wringers andparticularly to a novel structure of a drain board for domestic washingmachine wringers.

When hand crank operated wringers were in common use women operatorslearned the proper method of feeding clothes to the wringer and werecareful to spread the clothes over the face of the rolls and to avoidbunch feeding of the clothes which made the wringer crank hard to turn.However, with the power driven conventional domestic washing machinewringers the effect of bunch feeding was not so clearly demonstrated andbunch feeding of clothes is now a more or less common practice. In factmany operators merely feed some portion or the clothes into the roll andpermit the rolls to act as a power elevator to drag the balance of thegarment through the wringer.

It is the particular object of this invention to provide a drain boardwhich will act to spread the clothes being inducted through the wringerof a domestic washing machine.

Another object is to provide a drain board for a domestic washingmachine wringer which will permit clothes to be inducted through thewringer without being caught or damaged by the drain board.

Now referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view of a wringer complete with a pair of mydrain boards attached;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same wringer shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation View of the same wringer;

Fig. 4 is a front sectional elevation view of the drain board as itwould appear on the section lines 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an end sectional elevation view of the drain board as it wouldappear on the section lines 5-5 of Fig. 4.

I show a pair of my drain boards [6 attached to a conventional wringerhaving a main frame II], a gear drive head ll, safety pressure releasebars l4, and a pressure adjustment screw it. The wringers have a pair ofwringer rolls l2 and 13 mounted within the frome It and power driventhrough gears in the wringer head I I.

This structure is well understood in the art and will not be describedin detail any further as the function of those parts are wellunderstood.

It will be noted that my drain board It has an arcuate plan projectionfrom the frame 10. As a matter of fact, in this preferred embodiment ofmy invention the upwardly projecting rim portion H is formed within thetrue arc 19, which is practically a semi-circle, and the outer are It.The are I9 encloses the drain basin 20. It will be appreciated that thisarcuate projection of my drain board has the effect of spreading clothesas they may be inducted through the rolls i2 and i3 and being draggedover the outward arcuate edge i8. Heretofore drain boards have been mademore or less rectangular in shape although proveded on the outward edgeswith rounded corners. It will be appreciated that such rectangularprojecting drain boards afford no structure which would act to spreadthe clothes as does my arcuate edge l8, and moreover the corners of suchrectangular drain boards provide ready opportunity for catching theclothes. It will be appreciated that the arcuate projection of my drainboard with the outer edge l8 flowing smoothly into th frame IE1 does notprovide any such opportunity for catching clothes. As a matter of fact,this arcuate formation provides means whereby the clothes are spreadbefore they enter the rolls and no opportunity is afforded for theclothes to catch on the drain board.

My drain boards are attached to the main frame It by any conventionalmethod through the vertical inner wall 21 shown in Fig. 5

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a drain board for a domestic washing machine clothes wringer, anarcuately projecting top edge, said top edge being formed between anarcuate inner edge and an arcuate outer edge tangent at the center ofthe drain board, a drain basin within said top edge having a drainoutlet at the said point of tangency, and an arcuate vertical side Walladjoining said arcuate outer top edge, said arcuate side wall and topedge providing bow means to spread and distribute clothes as inductedthrough the wringer.

2.. In a drain board for a domestic washing machine clothes wringer, anarcuately projecting top edge, said top edge being formed between anarcuate inner edge and an arcuate outer edge tangent at the center ofthe drain board, a drain basin within said top edge having a drainoutlet at the said point of tangency, and an arcuate vertical side Walladjoining said arcuate outer top edge, said arcuate side walls and topedge adjoining the wringer frame with no projections to catch clothes asinducted through the wringer.

3. A drain board having an inclined clothes receiving surface of arcuateformation curved throughout its extent and one edge face of which liesin an inclined plane to the bite of the rolls and is of U-shape, theupper edge of the legs of the U being of substantial width and theremainder of each leg gradually diminishing in width and meeting at thebase, thus providing a com- 5 pletely curved inclined edge on which theclothes will ride and be spread outwardly thereby while being drawnthereover by the rolls.

4. In a clothes wringer including a frame and a pair of co-actingpressure rolls, a drain board having a characteristic clothes contactingupper surface; said surface comprising an inner edge, an inclinedcentral panel and a marginal outer edge, the inner edge being locatedadjacent the wringer rolls at a point substantially midway between theends of said rolls, below the bite of the rolls, and closely adjacentthe surface of the lower roll; said central panel extending angularlydownwardly and outwardly from the inner edge to a point remote from andsubstantially below said inner edge to provide an inclined water shedadapted to carry free drain water away from the rolls; said centralpanel including side portions curved upwardly at each side of the paneland terminating in the marginal outer edge; said marginal outer edgecomprising a clothes receiving surface of arcuate formation curvedthroughout its extent and forming a U-shape which lies in an inclinedplane to the bite of the rolls, the upper portion of the legs of th Ubeing above the plane of the central panel to confine the flow of freedrain Water to the central panel, and the lower portion of the U lyingin contiguous relation with the outward portion of the central panel,thus providing a curved inclined 3'5 edge on which the clothes will rideand be spread evenly outwardly while being drawn thereover by therotation of the rolls.

5. In a clothes wringer having a frame andl coacting pressure rolls, adrain board at one side of the rolls for supporting clothes duringfeeding movement to the rolls, said drain, board having a concave uppersurface curved in cross section and sloping downwardly from the rollssubstantially to a point at the outer edge of the drain board, andupwardly projecting rim portions on opposite sides of said concavesurface and sloping upwardly from the outer edge portion of the drainboard, said rim portions, in plan, having arcuate inner edges extendingsubstantially throughout a semi-circle with the closed side thereof atthe outer edge of the drain board to which arcuate inner edges theoppostie sides of the concave upper surface slope upwardly and saidarcuate edges forming the lateral edges of the concave upper surface,whereby the clothes are spread laterally during inward movement thereofover the concave surface.

6. In a clothes wringer having a frame and coacting pressure rolls, adrain board at one side of the rolls for supporting clothes duringfeeding movement to the rolls, said drain board having a concave uppersurface curved in cross section and sloping downwardly from the rollssubstantially to a point at the outer edge of the drain board, andupwardly projecting rim portions on opposite sides of said concavesurface and sloping upwardly from the outer edge portion of the drainboard, said rim portions, in plan, having arcuate inner edges extendingsubstantially throughout a semi-circle with the closed side thereof atthe outer edge of the drain board to which arcuate inner edges theopposite sides of the concave upper surface slope upwardly and saidarcuate edges forming the lateral edges of the concave upper surface,and said rim portions having substantially arcuate outer edgesconverging substantially to the arcuate inner edges adjacent the outeredge of the drain board substantially in wedge shape, whereby theclothes are spread laterally during inward movement thereof to the rollsover the concave surface.

NICHOLAS L. ETTEN.

